OPHIBOLUS. 91 



continuous on the abdomen, those of contiguous pairs (not of the 

 same pair) sometimes with their intervening spaces black. The 

 scales in the -white rings are always more or less mottled with black, 

 especially along the sides of the body, this mottling being very rarely 

 observable on the red portion. The anterior black ring of the first 

 pair is extended so as to cover the whole head above, except the very 

 tip ; the yellow ring behind it involves the extreme tip of the oc- 

 cipital^. 



A larger specimen is much duskier in its colors. The black rings 

 extend on the back so that the contiguous rings of adjacent pairs run 

 into each other. There are 28 pairs of rings, the 25th opposite the 

 anus. 



In a specimen from Prairie Mer Rouge, which probably belongs 

 to this species, there are but 21 pairs of rings, the 19th opposite the 

 anus. The rings separate more on the sides than in the other speci- 

 mens, the intervals covering some six or eight scales. The black 

 rings are mostly interrupted below; the interrupted ends of con- 

 tiguous rings of adjacent pairs connected by short black blotches. 

 The white rings are mottled, and the head is black as described. 



R.,R,e,A„., 198.45.21. 20. 2i. {^CmZ^ 



" -201. — 21. 27i. — " 



?FrairieMerRouge,Lx. l*3i. 45. 21. 16i 2i. Jas. Fairie. 



